West Indies v Australia, 1st Test, Barbados, 7-11 April, 2012

It was a pretty stunning victory. Not as 'no chance' as, say, Eng / SL at Cardiff but it was a very unlikely win. It's a mark of a good side when a team can pull off a real tough one like that. Conversely, WI did pretty well to stand reasonably toe-to-toe with Aus throughout this game.

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Brass Monkey wrote:It was a pretty stunning victory. Not as 'no chance' as, say, Eng / SL at Cardiff but it was a very unlikely win. It's a mark of a good side when a team can pull off a real tough one like that. Conversely, WI did pretty well to stand reasonably toe-to-toe with Aus throughout this game.

Perhaps, or you could say that the Windies absolutely had this game for the taking, and stuffed up hugely. To not even get a draw out of it considering the match situation at lunch on day 4 must be incredibly devastating. The habit of desperately trying to scape the barrel for Windies positives after yet another defeat must end, otherwise they'll remain 8th in the rankings forevermore. Simply, they need to start winning,

Shame Hussey got out at the death there.

Apparently* this is only the second time a team has won after declaring behind the oppositions score.

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Henry wrote:
Perhaps, or you could say that the Windies absolutely had this game for the taking, and stuffed up hugely. To not even get a draw out of it considering the match situation at lunch on day 4 must be incredibly devastating. The habit of desperately trying to scape the barrel for Windies after yet another defeat must end, otherwise they'll remain 8th in the rankings forevermore. Simply, they need to start winning,

Well, I don't think they'll look on this result too positively. I'm just saying that if you were to have given them a narrowish loss before the match, they probably wouldn't have been the most disappointed they could've been. If they can build on this and change a couple of personnel they can at least start to think of victory. I think Sammy and Roach were a little hamstrung at the end and Edwards was defunkt. Maybe they could've won, or at least drawn, if they had more back-up.

I'm just saying that if you were to have given them a narrowish loss before the match, they probably wouldn't have been the most disappointed they could've been.

Which is part of their problem- The hard fought defeat is accepted as a decent result. Might explain why it happens to them a lot. And it's not like this is the Australian side of 1997-2006, either. They were ranked ranked 5th in the World before India vomited all over their cricket grounds recently.

I've been saying "Oh this Windies team has talent" for about 10 years now. But after all that time, they're still ranked number 8. Talent means nothing if you're mostly a bunch of overpaid, IPL lusting Fiddys.

Seven dropped catches! Australia, you were feckin lucky!

Henry wrote:
Which is part of their problem- The hard fought defeat is accepted as a decent result. Might explain why it happens to them a lot. And it's not like this is the Australian side of 1997-2006, either. They were ranked ranked 5th in the World before India vomited all over their cricket grounds recently.

I've been saying "Oh this Windies team has talent" for about 10 years now. But after all that time, they're still ranked number 8. Talent means nothing if you're mostly a bunch of overpaid, IPL lusting Fiddys.

There currently aren't too many superior attacks to Australia's in world cricket ATM. Now that Harris can string two matches together, they have sturdy unit of tireless and skilful bowlers. Don't think their spinner is the best but he has decent figures.

I'm not saying they played for a narrowish defeat or that they'll be happy to accept it, but I'm sure they've enough realism in them to understand that Aus have a decent enough side and they should be proud to near-match them. Which can stand them in good stead for the other two matches if they regroup and come at Aus hard in the next Test.

Of course they won't be happy. They should've drawn this Test at the very least and it's a poor effort to lose from the position they did, all-in-all. But Aus have chinks in their armour that they can exploit if they play out of their skins.

Henry wrote:

skully wrote:Well, that was all a bit gripping. Great comeback by Aus to win this one.

Lots of time wasting by the Windies added to the theatre. Great Test match!!!

There's one....

Phurt. So I'm not allowed one post to congratulate the boys, Trev? That's a bit harsh, ol' boy.

I was glued to the set from 4.30 am. Fark posting when any movement can turn an innings upside down. Feet off the ground stuff.

And thanks for your congrats, Trev.

Aye, hearty congrats to Aus, anyway. Didn't offer them before... suppose I've been raving about another damned quality Test match. It's a proud win. This Aus side is not to be underestimated.

The decent amount of top notch entertaining Tests in the last while is now becoming a plethora and surely Test cricket is the better off because of it.

Trev has obviously taken the lump in his throat for a walk.

Turn it up Trev is happier than anyone about this result. Like most poms he is only happy when he has something to whinge about

Well done Aus and the Windies for proving that there is life in the old dog called Test Cricket.

G.Wood wrote:Turn it up Trev is happier than anyone about this result. Like most poms he is only happy when he has something to whinge about

GFY

not sure it was a great test match but it was enthralling....nice for Oz to win but kudos to the windies for fighting it out ...hope they take some positives from this and go forward...

as has been the norm recently - test cricket is the winner...must say it was great to read the o'night Pomgolian posts reflecting the enjoyment of a hard contest...even if all (and understandably) were barracking for the windies

hope mudge does not drown in a sob-athon...hope Sammy recovers from the worst Trevving I have seen for ages

TBF I'd be barracking for the WI versus anyone apart from us.

Brass Monkey wrote: TBF I'd be barracking for the WI versus anyone apart from us.

...me too....tho I have a soft spot for the bangles

Pretty exciting day's cricket - never seen a game with so many interruptions though. Thought Sammy missed a trick by bowling the spinners in tandem when Punter and Hussey came in, especially the latter who has been very vulnerable against pace of late. Also the way the light was fading I was surprised he didn't further slow down the game by bowling both Roach and Edwards. They didn't bowl any short balls either.

Gritty win from the Aussies. Perhaps the Windies a bit unlucky i.e. with the Watson decisions in both innings. Had the ump put his finger up he was on his way.

Good team effort in the end but Harris went a long way to securing the win!!

Who was MOTM by the way. I assume Rhino.

JGK wrote:Who was MOTM by the way. I assume Rhino.

Yes, he spoke after the game but it was hard to pick up what they all were saying with the way the ground's acoustics were.

BTW the Aussies wasted a bit of time too. They had water boys going out after every other over and were regularly changing gloves.

After the first few days you wondered how the Windies could have lost it but then again many were saying before the match that it would only last a few days.

The locals aren't enamoured of Sammy at all and don't think he is worth his place!!

The locals aren't enamoured of Sammy at all and don't think he is worth his place!!

He is the West Indian equivalent of a Victorian isn't he?

Interesting to note that when Punter came out to bat today the scoreboard had him down as Pointing for some time much to the amusement of the Aussie fans. Mind you he had done a lot of finger pointing during this match.

Bit disappointing by Clarke - the last three chases in Hobart, Joburg and here he has been dismissed for single figures. Wade generally kept his head when things were tight.

BTW the Windies fielding which had been excellent became quite shaky under pressure. Though they're so much more athletic and disciplined than the Indians which kept us under much more pressure than we experienced during the summer.

Well done to the Aussies on winning this one. We seem to have trouble stringing 2 good innings batting in a test and at the moment and all our batsmen barring Chanderpaul and to a lesser extent Deonarine has been having a rough go of it this year in the domestic competition. I would also replace Bishoo with Shillingford until Narine comes back. Bishoo has been looking ineffective for a while now and needs to work on some variety.

Just saw the replay, top win by Australia. Good match too.

Has Shillingford's issues with his action been resolved?